Chapter 35: Adaptation of "Lion Camel Ridge"

Jiang Heng does not have that kind of impatient sense of urgency, and he will not let the crew work non-stop from the start of filming until the end.

Although they cannot have a rest like statutory holidays, the crew will always be given a day off every ten days or so.

However, on this day, Jiang Heng took a break and slept in the hotel until noon. After dinner, he drove out for a stroll. It was not the hotel's car, but a new BMW 728 that was purchased locally.

There was a Mercedes-Benz on the Hong Kong side and a BMW 728 on the Beijing side. Finally, there were cars on both sides.

The only thing missing is a mansion.

He is not very fond of the villa because he has lived alone most of the time in his past and present lives.

I always feel that the villa is too spacious, and a large flat would be better.

If it is a large flat with a river view, it would be the perfect home for him.

Unfortunately, it was quite difficult to find such a house in Beijing in 98.

After driving around the Second Ring Road for a while, I finally saw a newly opened real estate project. I went in to take a look and felt that the apartment was a bit small.

But seeing that the sales girl was young, pretty, and working hard to sell, I decided to pay with my credit card and buy two sets.

When the sales lady saw Jiang Heng taking out his Hong Kong ID, she showed a look of surprise on her face, but she had to hold it back.

After signing the contract and paying the house price, the sales lady timidly asked, "Um, please tell me, are you the director Jiang Heng who filmed The Matrix?"

"Yup!"

"Ah...!" The girl shouted halfway and quickly covered her mouth with her hands.

At this time, the manager of the sales office came running over and asked Jiang Heng to go to the office and sit down, saying that the company's boss would be here soon.

In fact, when Jiang Heng took out his ID, the sales clerk recognized him and quietly told the manager.

The manager was afraid that if he showed his enthusiasm he would scare people away, so he waited until Jiang Heng signed the contract and swiped his card before coming over.

After all, some bigwigs in the film and television industry have some quirks to a greater or lesser extent. If they scare people away, the boss might want to chop them to pieces!

After all, Jiang Heng is also the director with the highest box office performance in the country. If such people come to their community to buy houses, it will naturally be an extremely effective live advertisement, and it may even attract some celebrities and artists to move in!

Since Jiang Heng bought the house, he had to deal with the developer. Naturally, he would not offend anyone easily. He followed the sales manager upstairs with a smile.

After chatting for a while, a man wearing glasses and looking shrewd came into the room.

"Hey, Director Jiang, I was wondering if I saw a magpie when I went out this morning. It turns out that a distinguished guest has arrived!"

Jiang Heng looked at the man's face and thought that at least the house could be delivered on time and the project was not left unfinished.

"Hey, I'm just a filmmaker, I can't be considered a noble person!"

"Director Jiang, what you said is too polite. I watched your movie The Matrix, and it was really wonderful. It was beyond imagination and wonderful! The box office results were unprecedented! 400 million US dollars worldwide, which is more than 3 billion yuan in RMB!
Do you know what the annual sales of the top real estate company in the country was last year? Just over 2 billion, and the profit was less than 200 million! Compared with your performance, ours is nothing!"

Jiang Heng was stunned when he heard this, and thought to himself: "You are almost praising me to the sky, you are not asking for money, are you?"

He laughed and said, "Thank you, thank you!"

"Director Jiang, our acquaintance is fate. I'll treat you tonight. Can we have a simple meal together?"

Jiang Heng waved his hands and said, "No, I have an appointment tonight, another day, another day!"

Seeing this, the boss did not force it. He smiled and changed his phone number, then led a group of people to see Jiang Heng off to the sales office.

Some young men and women who came in to buy houses wondered who was being given away with such fanfare!
As soon as I saw that he was driving a BMW 728, I knew he was either rich or noble.

At this time, a staff member whispered, "Great Director Jiang Heng!" "Who?"

"Jiang Heng!"

"No way, he came here to buy a house? He is not Xiangjiang...!"

"It's because Director Jiang is from Hong Kong that he bought a house here. Do you know why? The feng shui here is good, and everyone over there believes in it!"

Several people who were looking at the house nearby were originally a little hesitant, but after hearing this, they hurriedly paid the deposit.

Some people were afraid of the sales office's tricks and wanted to see Jiang Heng's house purchase contract to confirm the truth, but were rejected.

True or false news is the easiest to spread.

By the evening, the news that Jiang Heng bought a house in Beijing spread in a small circle.

The next day at noon, Han Sanping called and said with a smile, "I heard that you bought a house yesterday?"

"Oh, I was driving by and saw this and it looked good, so I bought two!"

Han Sanping was choked. He felt that what Jiang Heng was talking about was not so much buying a house as it was buying two sets of pancakes.

"Why didn't you tell me in advance? I should at least give you some advice!"

Jiang Heng smiled, "No big deal, I just bought two sets, I don't necessarily want to live in them, I will definitely buy another one if I find a suitable one in the future, and then I might need your help and advice!"

Han Sanping said casually: "Don't worry, I promise to help you pick a suit that suits your taste!"

I also asked about the progress of the filming, and of course everything was going smoothly.

A monster movie doesn't require much acting skills, and the highlights are all on the special effects. How difficult can it be to shoot?

In the blink of an eye, it was early July and the filming was officially wrapped up.

After the crew disbanded, Jiang Heng first made a rough cut of the film and then returned to Hong Kong with the film source.

The excuse was naturally to go abroad to do special effects. Han Sanping wanted to send someone to accompany him, but was rejected outright, so he gave up.

In Hong Kong, Jiang Heng first went back to his home to rest for two days, then flew to Australia, and soon flew to the United States.

He bought a house in North America so he doesn't have to live in a hotel all the time. Although he doesn't have a gun license, fortunately he lives in a high-end community so his safety is guaranteed.

I stayed there until November. Except for returning to China once to make donations, I spent the rest of my time writing scripts in the United States.

The reason was that when I was bored, I flipped through "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods" at home, thinking about which story to adapt.

As a result, when I carefully read the episode "Lion Camel Ridge", I was shocked. The scenes described in the original work were so horrible and bloody that I felt that Hollywood horror movies were nothing compared to this.

It’s a pity that if the film is shot according to the original work, it will not pass the review at all.

I immediately thought: "This movie doesn't have to be released in China! I can sell it directly to North America, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia!"

Then he thought, "It's just that there are too many bloody scenes. At most, I can ask them to delete or edit them at will, or just shoot a clean version for the country. It won't cost me any money anyway!"

Therefore, Jiang Heng has been busy with only one thing for more than four months, which is adapting the script of "Lion Camel Ridge", which is now basically completed.

Immediately, a difficult problem arose: who should play the role of Sun Wukong?

Wu Qizu is now quite famous internationally, but in terms of his figure and facial features, Jiang Heng feels that he is not very suitable.

Suddenly I saw Wu Jing dodging nimbly while being chased by dinosaurs in the finished film "100 Million Years BC", and I thought to myself, "Okay, I'll pick you!"

(End of this chapter)